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 Review by PeteC2 
member for 11.3 years, 4734 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 106 days ago
 Bristol,Hartford,CT
 $52 per month about 5 days "Very good speed, willing, if sometimes confused sales and support" "self install was a minor hassle, some info was "off"" "Good internet service; friendly staff, but could be more coordinated"
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This is a switch after 10+ years of dsl. The order process was friendly, but there was a lot of confusion by the sales/support folks. Spoke with three different sales reps, got three different offers. Probablty all legit, but there are so many promotions or combinations of promotions that you have to be careful and proceed with due diligence to get the right deal. I would have rated the sales/installation process much higher except I had to really dig to get the best offer.
I did a self-install, and the equipment arrived quickly, however, the service was not turned on yet, and made the install uneccessarily stressful. Once cleared up however, install was easy enough. Not surprisingly, knowledge level of tech support ranged from very good, to very wrong...typical of today's tech support be it dsl or cable.
The self-install kit, while adequate, could have had better detail of the process.
Once set up, speeds were right where they should be, and the price is fair. I needed no contract, and the price for the first 6 months is really good...decent after that.
Comments:
 pmdepr
join:2004-02-02
Simsbury, CT | I agree I agree with the sales staff. I got three different price quotes for bundled service. It went up with every step of the process. The final install has been decent and so far the service seems good but the sales process was a nightmare. I ended up keeping DirecTV for television service as their customer service is way better. | |
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Review by mclovin206
member for 107 days, 0 visits, last login: 107 days ago
lodged 107 days ago
- Mount Vernon,Skagit,WA
- $60 per month
- about 3 days
- "The FASTEST and BEST internet connection you can get"
- "Sometimes they overlook problems, and don't tell you the true price"
- "Best connection you can get, if an idiot installs it, won't work right. Real price is 60/mo for the internet only."
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OK,
I've done speed tests (www.speedtest.net) from as many ISPs I can try. Most I can find are in the 3MBPS to 6MBPS (including Frontier FIOS - DIRECT fiber to the house). While DSL/Dish package, or fiber-to-the-premises, can seem better, think about the cloud, the backbone.
No test I have done, can come close to my Comcast HSI connection at home. I have 12mbps down, 5mbps up. On a Comcast connection, this means if you download/upload a file over 5gb, it's capped at this speed. Admitted, you are capped, on a residential connection, to 250gb/mo, but this is quite a bit when you think about it. I have never gone over. When I do a speed test, I get 25 MBPS down 5 MBPS up. This is what you will get surfing the web, as any file under 5mb, will be uncapped. This is what they call, "Xfinity Power-Boost". DSL companies in my experience, when you pay for 7mbps down, 1mbps ADSL, this is their "MAX SPEED", mostly I see under it.
I am not a salesman. I speak from experience, speed tests, trace-routes, and knowledge of ISPs, DOCSIS, and the Internet Cloud. Here is the bottom line.
Comcast is the BEST in my area, western Washington. If you understand what trace-routing is, it shows what path it takes through the cloud to say, www.google.com. I've done a traceroute from a Comcast connection in Monterey, CA to my home in Seattle. It didn't even go though San Jose as I'd thought, never switched to another backbone, Comcast routers all the way. They have a 10 gigabit connection between routers as when I understood it, routers all over the USA, and 10-GB connection to major backbones in the cloud like level3. This means it can plug into any backbone that is the least busy, wherever city the router is located, Miami, San Francisco, Kansas City, wherever. This is why you get the fastest speeds, and the least latency.
Why does my connection work so well? I know what I am doing when I installed it, all the tech had to do is climb up the pole, and plug it in. If they send an idiot of a tech out to install it, they don't know what they are doing, and if they work for a sub-contractor and are in a time crunch (real Comcast technicians are paid hourly and are not expected to get 'the impossible' done yesterday). They appreciate quality over quantity. If you have wiring from 1985, and live in a 5,000 sq ft Brick home, with the 'drop' (cable that goes from the pole to the house), running to the opposite side of the house, with old fittings (connectors), old splitters (internet runs around 700mhz, these are rated at 300 or 600. Split too many times or long old (RG 59) or too long RG6 line? Low signal. This will cause you to get booted off line randomly. Old connectors (especially "twist-on" ones they put in new houses) will cause ingress (interference from outside sources), hence packet loss. If you live in an old apartment building, the wiring may need maintenance. Dish may have cut into the wiring on the roof, and they may need to fix that and set up a new appointment. This is called a maintenance request.
If you truly want the best, and want no surprises, check out your cable wiring if you can. If you have an old house with old wiring, tell them this when you order it. If you have a newly built house, pull the cable plate off of the wall by removing the 2 screws before the tech arrives, and move the desk or bookcase out of the way, so they can fix what may be wrong. The connector may be bad, and this makes the difference between a bad connection or a good connection. Look at the wiring, and if it's old and shot, it needs to be re-wired. Especially look at the drop. If it's old, or is smaller than your pinky finger and goes down the street 2 poles down, or bounces off a pole or more, tell them that when you order. They will include the replacement of the drop (from the pole to the house) in the price of the install, as well as the first outlet. If the drop is too long for the type of cable, you will have low signal before it's even split (distributed between your TVs and modem or EMTA (VOIP/Modem). Any additional outlets are called A/Os, and cost around $25 whether they are activated, or re-wired, or installed.
If you are having problems, before you call tech support and go though all the process of re-starting your modem, computer, all that crap... try going here:
»192.168.100.1/
Click on "signal" or "connection" on most modems. Downstream should be above -7dB, with 34dB SNR minimum. Upstream should be below 50dB. Got something like -18 on your downstream or 58 on your up? or 29dB SNR? The problem is with the wiring, something you cannot fix without the proper tools. Tell them this, they gotta fix it.
As far as the price goes, sometimes they'll tell you it's $19.99/mo for 6mo. This is for 6 months, the real price is 55.99 for internet only, or 45.99 if you have TV or Phone with it.
BTW their CDV Phone is great as well, I've had a 56k lock up at 52.6 (maximum).
I've posted a lot here don't expect you to understand it all, just trying to tell you how to get the best internet service, and the bottom line. I've seen many customers switch to DSL and get locked in a contract for 2 years, only to get crappy service that's 10x slower. Think before you do this.
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 Review by K3
member for 5 years, 443 visits, last login: 24 days ago
updated 109 days ago
- Kankakee,Kankakee,IL
- Contract price not specified.
- "I always get the speed I pay for and the hdtv quality is great"
- "nothing."
- "In my area, this service is solid, wouldn't change it for anything."
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Best service in our area, decent prices. I subscribe to HD premier package with extreme 50 internet and unlimited voice for $186/month after taxes. Can't beat it, not even with a hammer 
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Review by dattler
member for 9.6 years, 66 visits, last login: 87 days ago
lodged 110 days ago
- Orange Park,Clay,FL
- $55 per month
- "Fast downloads and uploads"
- "inconsistent, even in a relatively large city."
- "It's this or dsl from AT&T, and they're highest is half my speed."
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Works well, their support is good, most of the time. Their bill is itemized and thorough, with a summary, and has the option for online only pdf bill or physical bill.
They offer speeds up to 105Mbps down. I have 22down, and regularly get closer to 35down, rarely have any issue with my download speeds.
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| | Comcast is HORRIBLE I have the worst signal from Comcast!!!! It's intermittent. Constantly dropping. When I call about it, they tell me they don't see any issue and it must be in my home. They say if they don't find a problem when they get here they are going to charge me for the visit. It's INTERMITTENT. I'm not paying them if they show up at a time when it actually works! I am looking for a new carrier. | |
| | | | Re: Comcast is HORRIBLE 8 times out of 10 its something in the home, sometimes its the rental modem, sometimes its our plant. but if you get upset that that service isn't working for you with having had the opportunity to find and fix the problem by the company you're paying service from, maybe telco is the best fit for you. in addition, the CAEs have to say that for CYA purposes. it could be as something simple as a store bought splitter or radio shack wiring. why not see if the issue can be repaired and if there are charges, try and dispute them later. but to rant about the service not working, and to never have a in-house tech to come take a look to try and resolve the issue, i feel you have yourself to blame more than Comcast. | |
| | dattler
join:2003-09-19
Jacksonville, FL Reviews:
 ·Comcast
| My only issues with inconsistency are with the plant, every time I've had an issue, they send a tech within 2 days and the issue is resolved or referred to their maintenance folks. I just hsouldn't have issues every 3 or 4 months. When it works, it works great  | |
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Review by omyda
member for 2.8 years, 0 visits, last login: 113 days ago
lodged 113 days ago
- Miami,Miami-Dade,FL
- $89 per month
- "Speed is blazing! The SMCD3GNV fixed a lot of issues!"
- "The SMC3GNV doesn't seem smart like other routers and blocks everyday items."
- "Speed is fast, hella fast. If you can tolerate having to open ports for like xbox, slingbox, etc. Most other routers do on own."
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I have been with Comcast for sometime. I started with them when the top speed was 3mb. Now though they have evolved into one of the fastest, largest HSI providers. I jumped to their 50mb per second package and was fairly happy. Then though, my family started to get into using the internet. So with my media server, xbox, smart tv, etc, and now them getting a smart tv, and using things like youtube more, I noticed a huge drop. I work in IT and I recently added an IP camera system. For that system I used a 1000GB network. The lag was almost non-existent. So I went home and saw that mine was only 100MB. I called Comcast up for options and I asked them to send me the SMCD3GNV. Other people have had issues, but they all had the phone service also, which cuts into speed. When a voice call is made, it takes bandwidth from data. I did not like that at all, but since I am not using that feature, its all good.
Setting it up was a pain, I kept getting bounced around on the phone, and when I did get one, I barely understood them (India Rep). After about 10 minutes of suffering on the phone, my modem came to life. I then changed all my computers and equipment to the weird 10.0.0.X IP addresses. I then had to go into the rather dumb router's setting and open ports for xbox, slingbox, remote potato, and a bunch of other things. My Netgear before this router took care of all that for me, so this was a pain. Anyone that doesn't know about this would have been frustrated. Once setup though, I was impressed.
Speednet tests gave me a solid 65mb down 16mb up. That's insanity, since im on the 50mb package. With my Netgear I had to use repeaters to get signal to parts of the house. I can not tell you what a nightmare this causes with video streaming. The SMCD3GNV killed all those issues. I was able to retire all my repeaters and only use the built in wifi on the modem. Very impressed. My parents say that Netflix on their TV is HD quality and never buffers. Where as before, it was buffering a lot and looked like pixelated vomit sometimes. My PC, which is on 1GB port, is much more responsive with downloads and uploads.
In all, I would recommend the service. I mean its hella fast. You just have to really understand the equipment. Comcast's internet has always been top notch, well at least in Miami. I just wish they would give this same excellent service on their TV side. I am so tired of the limited, Nintendo looking interface that Comcast uses on their digital boxes. I tried out my friends U-Verse TV and was amazed how it looks, and all the features it has. Comcast, continue the great work on internet, but please do something about TV service!
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 Review by XCOM
member for 10.9 years, 3183 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 116 days ago
- Spring,Harris,TX
- $80 per month
- (24 month contract)
- "Good Speed Packeges"
- "Everything"
- "xfinity sucks. Comcast Business is A+"
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I can not stress enough how bad they suck. From customer support to billing.
The only person who has ever been VERY helpful has been ComcastSteve and thanks to him my ride out of this night mare has been some what pleasant. Waiting for my contract to be over.
Please note that the rating here is reflected against Comcast Corp not against ComcastSteve and the folks here that help out comcast users.
Note:
Not all is bad. I guess there phone service is ok... Ill give them that.
Update: 12/20/12
Moved to Comcast Business after the residential contract ended and haven't had any issues at all.
As a matter of fact the issue that I been battling for 2 1/2 years took the business class dep two days to fix.
A+.
Update: 01/21/2013
Still very happy with comcast business.
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Review by RokHed
member for 12.6 years, 2167 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 118 days ago
- Pennsville,Salem,NJ
- $119 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 4 days
- "Real fast compared to Dsl"
- "Tech support"
- "50/10 For same price. By far the fastest in my area."
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$30.05 a month for 16/2 25/3 with powerboost cant be beat in my area. I have my laptop and wii on netflix and 5 machines doing various things.
Been rock solid for me. 250g is plenty for my home use. I like the cap. It makes heavy users pay for degrading my service.
Got the speed bump to 20/4 Just as stable now only faster.
Best High Speed by far!
11/26/10
Still the best internet in my area.
12/18/2010
Rock Solid
12/23/2010
Fast... Real Fast. solid performer
1/10/2011
Solid performer..No downtime
1/25/2011
Stable and fast
4/19/2011
Raised the price by 3 bucks, So Now I pay $33ish. However i get even more speed now on the same tier. with the PB i now regularly get 30/6 and sustained downloads of 20 All day long on multi gig downloads. Vonage is clear with no jitter.Stream netflix and hbo go with 0 issues.
the best internet hands down
»www.pingtest.net/result/39163969.png
5/27/11
Rock Solid 20Mb sustained PBoost 30ish. Dont get better than that for $33 a month
8/4/11
DL 26.4 UL 5.04
$33.04
Extremely Fast, Reliable, Affordable.
Simply the best in my area!
8/21/11
Still rock solid
9/7/11
Kick ass.
9/20/11
Just re upped again for 29.99. 33.03 after fees. Cant get any better in my area
11/9/11
Solid as ever
12/5/11
Chuggin along )
12/14/11
Fastest most stable option in my area.. and still 33.03
1/20/12
No downtime and still fast!
3/10/12
Just re-upped for 30.05 for Blast 25/5 after taxes .. still blazing fast with no downtime
4/5/12
Rock solid... 0 downtime
5/16/12
Still chuggin along.. no downtime
6/6/12
Stable
7/11/12
Just switched to triple play with everything but CMax and 4 boxes with Blast internet and phone for $119.99.. box fees waived and no Emta rental. Go to Best Buy and and work your deal.. Its worth it.
7/30/12
50/10 for the same price. I need to get a dual band card so my wireless can even keep up. Wired im gettin 54/10.5 By far the fastest internet in my area
9/18/12
Real fast. No downtime
10/4/12
No downtime
10/16/12
Real Fast
11/28/12
Rock solid. no downtime
1/19/13
They just sent me a letter telling me that they were not billing me correctly and were going to raise me price by 7 bucks. SO since I do my services with the Comcast guy in the Bestbuy store I told them no thanks and since I have my price guarantee in writing I wont be paying the extra $7 but thanks for offering. She was dumbfounded and said that she would hafta look into it. Got a call back in 10 min. They gave me $10 off for another year... LOL thats even less than my price fix. Love Comcast. Just gotta know how to handle them
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| | re I am subscribed to the Triple Play and love it! It is light-years better than at&t's telephone and DSL services, and costs less. Here are my speed results:
For some reason, the ping was not as great when I took this test. It's usually about 10ms. | |
| El GaupoPremium
join:2006-07-15
Buckhorn, NM | slow speeds I have both comcast modem and Att dsl.
25meg and 3 meg.
There is almost no difference in downloading a test 200 meg file.
25meg = 5 minutes
3meg = 5.5 minutes | |
| | RokHed
join:2000-09-09
Pennsville, NJ Reviews:
·Comcast
| Re: slow speeds 
30.05 a month It just flat out works.. | |
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 CheesePremium
join:2003-10-26
Naples, FL
kudos:1 | And just how.... Do you plan on getting BB to re-up a promo? That isn't up to BB and Comcast is not going to continue to offer a promo beyond the original period. | |
| | RokHed
join:2000-09-09
Pennsville, NJ Reviews:
·Comcast
1 edit | Re: And just how.... Ya go to the store and say "hey bud.. I wanna re up my 29.99 plan".. He does... Its done.. easy peasy.. just gotta know how to talk to people... never pay full price... If ya dont ask youll never get it .. )
Ive never been off promotion.. I threaten to switch to Dsl and do it if they refuse.. within a week they begged me back..Now I dont even have to leave.. i threaten they give me what I want.. Yes there is a comcast rep in most bestbuys. And yes it is up to the comcast rep... if the plan is still offered they can give it to ya whenever ya want it if ya speak to them right.. However recently Ive been able to just do it over the phone. | |
| | | CheesePremium
join:2003-10-26
Naples, FL
kudos:1 | Re: And just how.... said by RokHed:Ya go to the store and say "hey bud.. I wanna re up my 29.99 plan".. He does... Its done.. easy peasy.. just gotta know how to talk to people... never pay full price... If ya dont ask youll never get it .. )
uh huh | |
| | | | RokHed
join:2000-09-09
Pennsville, NJ | Re: And just how.... I cant help it if you dont know how to get it.. Ive been with comcast off and on for 10 years.. I NEVER pay full price. Sorry for you | |
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| | RokHed
join:2000-09-09
Pennsville, NJ Reviews:
·Comcast
| Re: Bam 33 bux 
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RokHed
join:2000-09-09
Pennsville, NJ | Love it  | |
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·Comcast
| Re: 25/5 Looks nice. Are your speedtest.net results typical of mine? | |
| | | | | | | | RokHed
join:2000-09-09
Pennsville, NJ | Re: 25/5 Similar yes. I still dont have a dual band card in my laptop, so wireless is around 30/10 but when I plug into my linksys its always over 50/10. | |
| | | | | | | | RokHed
join:2000-09-09
Pennsville, NJ | Actually mine seem more stable than yours if your on 50/10 | |
| | | | | | | | | | | Re: 25/5 Yeah, I'm on 50/10, wired. Comcast doesn't know why my speeds fluctuate like that. | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | Re: 25/5 Do you still pay $33? | |
| | | | | | | | | | RokHed
join:2000-09-09
Pennsville, NJ | Re: 25/5 No I upgraded to Tripple Play witheverything but Cmax.. 4 boxes phone and 50/10 internet. $119. From the Comcast guy in Bestbuy. | |
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 Review by berserken
member for 2.1 years, 1046 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 120 days ago
- Oakland,Alameda,CA
- $42 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 2 days
- "Reliable"
- "More than I want to spend except for promotional discount"
- "It's decent bandwidth for competitive price, which is a little high, for me."
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I'm on a 2-year promotion: $19.99/mo for first year, $34.99/mo for second year, plus modem and taxes.
Provisioned speed is about 15/2, 20/4 during the blast period. This has been trouble-free, for the most part, a few brief network outages. Self-install was easy with the modem coming quickly via Fedex.
17 January 2013: Pretty much trouble-free service, no down time. Functional, reliable, and relatively economical.
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 Review by dnoyeB
member for 12.6 years, 967 visits, last login: 7 days ago
updated 123 days ago
- Southfield,Oakland,MI
- $50 per month
- about 7 days
- "Fast"
- "Expensive"
- "If you have cable TV the combo is worth it."
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Pretty much a flawless operation in Detroit these days. I get a new IP about once per month. Speed is quite fast. Ping times are low and stable. I have never had to call them in the 2+ years I have been with them. I moved to a new house in a neighboring city a few months back, and the service is fine here too.
But don't sleep. If they raise the price >$55 I am outta here. If it gets >$50 I'll start eying potential replacements.
$42.95 with cable, $57.95 without, thus I average the cost to $49.95.
The other day my router and modem got hit by lightning. Noticed Comcast did not install ground wire on cable as required by code. Made them do it, but they have not replaced my equipment and I am not happy about that.
I have moved twice since I start with Comcast. I haven't changed service yet. Each new house required me to eventually call Comcast to have a tech come out. Internet works, but things get flaky. Same with digital cable. After the tech visit, the flakiness is gone and the service works very well.
I tried to change to ATT a few times but the speed of service at my home is in the Kb for some reason. ATT won't attempt to remedy it, so I won't use their service. I haven't bothered to check at my new address.
Note: I am not a heavy speed user. I need good ping times, and a consistently reliable connection. This is why I am on their second lowest internet tier. They don't even advertise these tiers...
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Review by krowseye
member for 9.1 years, 50 visits, last login: 28 days ago
lodged 124 days ago
- Philadelphia,Philadelphia,PA
- $82 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 7 days
- "speed & reliability"
- "Cost is a moving target with Comcast/Xfinity sales"
- "Still cheaper than FIOS, more reliable than DSL and that dreadful WiMax"
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In the last 5 years, we've had Verizon DSL, Clear's WiMax and now Comcast Infinity. Like any modern family of four, we've got multiple devices running several operating systems, IPTV etc. Have had 100% uptime since it was installed. Only complaint is the sales hook which started at one price then almost doubled well before the alleged grace period was up.
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